With the succinct decree – “Feudalism, with all its attributes, stands abolished” – the feudal order legally ended in South Italy in 1806, but of course it had taken the occupation of the Kingdom of Naples by Napoleonic forces to bring about this change (Villani, 1968: 100). However, feudalism was hardly a monolith at the time of its legal abolition. In differing areas of the kingdom the degree of feudal control varied, as did the degree to which power and wealth had already come into the hands of middle-class men. Also, as Aymard points out, the feudalism of the Kingdom of Naples, and of Italy in general, was qualitatively different from the more commonly known “standard” model of feudalism and the manorial system developed by historians from the English and French cases (1982).

The great feudal issues of the eighteenth century concerned the inalienability of baronial land and the feudal commons. The primary benefits of feudalism to the southern nobility were legal jurisdiction over their territories and the power which accompanied it, and exemption from property and other taxes (Villani, 1968: 56). Abortive political attempts at reforming feudalism before the Revolution of 1799 and the French decade (1805–1815) must be understood in the context of changing class relations in the Kingdom of Naples during the second half of the eighteenth century, especially the strengthening of individuals interested in enriching themselves through various entrepreneurial activities involving the acquisition of land.